Spring tackle-block



W/MJ

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OBED' HUSSEY, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

SPRING TACKLE-BLOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 22,432, dated December 28, 1858.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, OBED I-IUssEY, of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Blocks for Ships and for other Purposes.

It is well known to seamen that the booms of fore-and-aft sails will often swing out with great force, and bring up on the tackle with a jerk; to the great risk of the blocks, the ropes, the ring-bolts, and of the boom itself.

The object of this improvement is to relieve this jerk by a peculiarity in the construction of the block, which renders it elastic in the direction of the pull; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawing, making a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 represents a view, in perspective, of my improved block. Fig. 2 represents a longitudinal section, and Figs. 3 and 4 are respectively transverse sections of the same, at the line 00, a, and a2, 00, of Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 represents a view in perspective of a modified guide for the strap of the block to slide 1n.

A, is the block.

B, is the spring, in this instance, made of india rubber.

(J, is the iron strap inclosing the block and the spring.

D is a plate across the head of the block, making part of the strap, connected with the other part by screws and nuts at a, and Z), for'convenience of taking apart and putting together.

E, is the eye to connect the block with the boom, the deck, or other point of attachment.

F is a pin, attached at one end to the block and passing through the spring, with the other end extending through an aperture in the seat of the strap. This pin is to secure the spring in its place.

G, G, are plates fastened to the sides of the block, with projections that embrace the strap, to keep the block and strap in the proper relative positions and to allow the block to slide within the strap during the compression and expansion of the spring.

The construction is as follows. I take an ordinary, unstrapped ships block; but instead of strapping it as ordinary blocks are strapped, by having the iron strap to fit close to all the four sides of the block, I make the strap in the form of a stirrup of the same width as the block to allow the block to slide up and down in it. I then prepare four plates of metal, and let two of them into each side of the block and near its end; and connect each pair of opposite plates by a through rivet. There are two projections on each plate to embrace the strap that form a groove on each side of the block to keep the strap and block in the proper relative positions, and allow the block to slide endwise in the strap. I then place an indiarubber or steel spring within the strap, and between the seat of the strap and the seat of the block. The spring is kept in its place by the pin passing through its center having one end secured to the seat of the block, and the other end passing into a hole in the strap, through which it pro trudes, and is retained during the compression and expansion of the spring.

It is designed that in the operation of this improvement the spring shall be sufliciently compressed while at rest to resist the force of ordinary strains and shall yield only under the extra strain produced by such shocks and irregular movements as would, but for such, yielding, cause a dangerous jerking of the tackle.

I am aware that springs have been interposed between blocks and the fixed or movable eyebolt or body to which they were attached. Such an arrangement of a spring without the block is obviously an essentially difierent thing from my improved block with a spring within it.

Of course I do not confine myself to any special form or arrangement of the strap and the block, or of either (as these may be indefinitely varied) so long as the block is constructed with a seat to yield to the force of sudden shocks, and, thereby, prevent the dangerous erks, which, as before described, it is the object of my invention to prevent.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,

A block having a yielding seat substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

OBED I-IUSSEY.

Witnesses:

C. H. BAWDEN, GEORGE EVERHART. 

